Do you know the feeling you get when you’re talking to someone who is totally distracted? You can just see it in their eyes; what you’re saying is not registering with them. They’re standing right in front of you, yet they are a million miles away…

 

When Br. Hagin was just a little boy, he would go out to the garden and “preach” to the cabbage heads. He’d often say later, “Sometimes I feel like I’m still preaching to cabbage heads!” An old comedian used to say, “I know you’re there; I can hear you breathing!” 

 

Kevin and I have joked about it a lot. In the early years of our marriage, we’d be in the car talking - OK, I was talking. No response. I’d say something like, “Kevin, if it’s just the two of us in the car and I’m talking, it’s probably to you.” He explained to me that he wasn’t ignoring me; it’s just that he was already having a conversation with himself, and I had interrupted before he finished! Instead of getting angry, I learned to just say, “Excuse me.” We’d get a little laugh out of it and go on. 

 

We could all improve our communication with one another, but there’s something even more important. Jesus said to his disciples, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.”  (Matthew 26:38) “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”  He went on to explain that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 

 

Notice what God said to Moses in Exodus 24:12, “Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Exodus 24:12) 

 

And be there… To me that means more than just Moses’s physical presence. God is never just interested in the physical action of a thing. Neither is He interested in faith alone. James put it this way, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17) We can never be reminded enough that God is always looking for both FAITH and ACTION! 

 

Think about it in terms of giving, for example. “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  2 Corinthians 9:7(NIV)   God doesn’t just love givers…He loves CHEERFUL givers- those who have made a decision in their heart. The decision of the heart is the faith; the money in the envelope is the action.   

 

James went on to say in chapter 2 verse 26, “the body without the spirit (breath) is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” So God is saying, I know you’re there, I can hear you breathing!

  

Here is some more food for thought and a great spiritual exercise.   The next time you read “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”, think of it this way: The word “rejoice” means to spin around under the influence of any violent emotion (that’s the action). To “be glad” means to brighten up (that’s the attitude; the faith). “And” means do both!!

 

I heard a minister give this testimony when the Lord challenged him to rejoice all by himself: He said, “Lord, I feel so self conscious.” The Lord responded to him by saying, “If you feel self conscious when you’re all by yourself, you are WAY TOO SELF CONSCIOUS!”   Remember, we are NEVER alone! God said He would never leave us or forsake us.

 

Recently I was in our hotel room praying before a service. God started speaking to me and showing me some things.  Faith rose up in my heart and I couldn’t help myself. I started running around that room! Granted, my “lap” was a circle about five or six feet around, but I ran and I danced and I lifted my hands and laughed and cried ALL BY “MYSELF”!  And was I ever blessed! 

 

Friend, when you really believe God, you’ll act like it. Do it. BE THERE. You’ll be glad you did!

Annie